Paula Cleggett-Haleim
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
August 20, 1991
(Phone: 202/453-1548)
James H. Wilson
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818/354-5011)
RELEASE: 91-135
NASA PLANS ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO RESOLVE GALILEO ANTENNA PROBLEM
The cooling turn performed last week by the Galileo
spacecraft did not result in low enough temperatures to release
the few antenna ribs apparently bound by friction to the antenna's
central tower, Galileo project officials said today.
Another cooling turn is being planned for December 1991 when
Galileo is farther from the sun. Additional actions will be taken
at that time to cool the antenna tower further. These cooling
turns are part of a series of steps project officials believe will
be required ultimately to deploy the antenna. The officials said
each step yields valuable data to help with the design of
spacecraft actions in the next step.
For the next 2 months, the Galileo flight team will
concentrate on the final preparations for Galileo's Oct. 29
encounter with the asteroid Gaspra. This will be the first
spacecraft asteroid encounter.
Galileo's high-gain antenna is not essential for mission
operations until the spacecraft is in orbit around Jupiter in
December 1995, project officials said.
Galileo is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science and
Applications by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
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